Project Runway Season 14 Episode 12: Best Western

"Hi. I'm Kelly Dempsey. You might know me from TV's Project Runway."

"And after 12 hours hunched over a sewing machine day after day, I'm ready for a break."

"A chance to recharge, relax..."

"Pamper yourself without breaking the bank. Next time, choose Best Western Plus!"

Greetings, Project Runway Fans!!!

Well, we're down to the final four and they're headed out to the land of swimmin' pools and movie stars...Los Angeles.

It's there where Tim greets them with the marketing director.... 

......for Best Western Hotels.

"Wait? This is a Best Western property?"
"Can't be. The hallway didn't smell like a wet dog was sprayed with disinfectant."
"The pool works and it doesn't have dead bugs floating in it."

The first prize for this challenge is 100 free nights at any Best Western property, including their exclusive Best Western Plus properties. I know what you're thinking. The second place prize was 200 free nights....

But what's the challenge?

Kelty Knight, correspondent for "The Insider," a syndicated entertainment show, came out to explain to the designers that their challenge was to design a look for the red carpet. Kelty then proceeded to insult their intelligence by explaining what famous people like her look for in a red carpet gown.

As if they didn't know this.

Tim gave them some time to sit, take in the surroundings, draw and plan their designs. They had $400 and two days to sew.

"Welcome to LA Mood!"

NYC is showing Project Runway no love this year. Parsons moved its NYC location to digs that no longer accommodate the show. The new studios are nowhere near Mood or the fashion district. The fashion district, itself, is slowly fading away. Designer boutiques are now found all over the city. In fact, some of the hottest up and coming designers have studios in Brooklyn and Queens. We getting the feeling that we're wanted anymore, New York!

Meet Oscar (named after Oscar de la Renta.)

You may recall Oscar from Tim's short-lived design show, Under the Gunn, which aired during one of Project Runway's hiatuses. UTG also taped at the workshop in the Fashion Institute of of Design and Merchandising, right in downtown LA, blocks from Mood. Oscar is a rescue dog who sleeps most of the day and walks around greeting customers in the late afternoon. Should you happen by and wish to see him in action, around 3-4 pm is best.

I remember the dreadful season when Project Runway taped in LA. Maybe now that the Fashion District is more established there, perhaps another season in LA might be in order.  I can't believe I'm saying it, but as AARP would say....

imagine the possibilities....

• the canyon fire challenge, 
• the mudslide challenge,
• dress a former actress fso that she can attend a fake party thrown by her reality TV star friend,
• design, draw and hand sew your dress while stuck in traffic on the 405....

This could be good stuff, no?

This week's guest judge was Christian Siriano. Now that he's grown up and wildly successful, he doesn't throw the shade he used to throw when he was a contestant. 

But we all know what he was thinking....

This was the last challenge before choosing the finalists and this was the best you could do?

Why don't you pull up a comfortable hotel lobby chair and join me as we look through this week's designs?

Candice Cuoco

There was such little drama from Candice this week that it hardly seemed as though she was there. This dress walked down the carpet and it hardly seemed as if it was there, either. 

Candice looked at the wide expanse of the valley view and was inspired to do an "open back."  I'm not really seeing an "open back" here. At Mood, she saw a black, sequined, sheer fabric and used that to close up the dress. The dress had one, interesting feature that you can't see in these pictures. The cross hatch fabric continues to the front under the arms.  

But the way the runway is lit, you can't see those details. Christian had to practically put his face up against it to appreciate the darting. Even still, the fit in the bodice is off, particularly on the (model's) right side, which formed a little bunch up that distracted from the silhouette.  And how many times have we seen this silhouette before? There is nothing fresh or inspiring about this dress.
In many other seasons, this would not have been enough to get to Fashion Week as a finalist. She could gamble by doing a simple thing well because she was pretty sure that Kelly would go hip hop, Edmond would go trashy, and Ashley would take a huge risk and be in over her head.

And that's exactly what happened....only....Kelly worked harder than anyone expected.

Kelly Dempsey

Do I like this look? No. Do I think that it fits the challenge? Only if you stretch the definition of the challenge to include music award shows. Should this have been a disaster? Most definitely.

Kelly spent most of her time constructing a textile from triangles of fabric sandwiched between a grey, patterned sheer layer and a blue moiré type fabric underneath. The effect of this was stunning.  However, by layering muslin in between, any stretch the fabric may have had before was gone. And Kelly had a lot of trouble fitting the garment on to her model. 

Despite all her hard and clever work, the model's body won this challenge for Kelly. It fits HER perfectly. SHE can carry off the look and this styling. No one else could, however. Kelly won a styling and construction challenge, not a DESIGN challenge.

But once again, in a season that is so hungry for anything beautiful or compelling to walk down the runway, Kelly comes out on top. She wins 100 free nights at a Best Western property! 

I love Kelly's personality and her honesty but I'm left wondering if, without completing formal training and technical savvy, will she run out of things to say in a final runway show? Her early work showed some questionable taste. She appeals to such a niche market that you wonder if she even has a business model and whether it could be sustained. This is, after all, a show to find the next, great American designer.

We'll see when she gets to Fashion Week, won't we? Whether or not she wins, I think it's clear that she needs to be Best Western's new spokesperson.

Ashley Tipton

Ashley did exactly what she needed to do this week. Her fabric choice and her technical savvy kept her from being successful with it.

First, she fell in love with the weirdest fabric. On the surface, it was a matte bronze. The slightest brush revealed silver lamé.

The design was on point. Change up the shape of the bodice on a gown to present some interesting positive and negative space. She would have been able to pull it off if only she had purchased the right boning for the bustier. Instead, the bottom began to sink and she had to sew in a support strap.

As you can see, the support strap caused awkward gathering on the top part of the bodice. As for the rest of the dress, as Heidi observed, it was a brush by accident waiting to happen.

"I'm really not supposed to like this, but I kind of do."

That impish Christian might have just thrown this challenge to Ashley. And why not? In a season of such lackluster designs, exactly who should you reward? The one who takes the risk and fails or the one who is so afraid to take a risk that he fails?

Edmond Newton

This week, Edmond had some commitment issues.

Long gown. Red carpet means long gown. Got that?

This is for the final. Got to take a risk. Color. Bold color. Got that?

But on Tim's first walk through, Edmond had a table that looked like the remnant bin at Mood.

He even went so far as to produce a ruched garment that looked pretty compelling, next to the other three designs.  But he also draped a garment out of the sequined fabric for comparison. Tim convinced him to go bold.

I'm not the world's biggest fan of sequins. Oh, they're shiny and all, but to me, they're a cheap and easy way of producing glimmer and shine. I can't get past the rough feel of the edges. It's like rubbing a fish scale the wrong way. So I completely understand Edmond's trepidation.

I don't know exactly what happened after he draped the dress, but Edmond began cutting until he got to this.

As you can see, it's really short. The sleeves aren't sleeves but cape like wings...and

That didn't work out so well for Gabrielle Aruda.

The judges weren't that thrilled. Christian tepidly argued that Edmond's was the most colorful piece. But it wasn't enough. When Heidi went on and on about who would wear this and why it was so sort and how she was SO DISAPPOINTED in Edmond....

Well, let's just say, Ms. Klum, that the Internet knows all.

Well...looky here!

As they were saying their Auf Wiedersehens, Heidi mentioned that Edmond had been up and down. Not exactly. There was only one challenge in which Edmond received a low score. He had been a solid sender this season up to this point.

WHERE'S THE TIM GUNN SAVE?

The chatroom erupted into a debate.

There's a save because....

• The last scene which should have been Tim saying goodbye and telling him to clean out his space was rushed through.
• Next week's preview showed a mysterious piece of arm next to Ashley in one scene that didn't appear to belong to the other two designers.
• Since getting the save, Tim has always used it.
• The preview video is tantalizingly titled "Almost Eliminated."

There's no save because...

• Tim has said on several talk shows and in interviews that this was his least favorite season.
• Heidi said he may or may not use the save.
• Some of the folks who attended the fashion week show indicated that there appeared to be three clear finalists, not four.

I don't know what to think anymore. I think this picture of Nina wraps up everything I'm feeling right now.

Nina can't even.

Back to Edmond for a moment. I'm getting a huge Mychael Knight vibe from Edmond. While I think he's way more thoughtful and technically accomplished than Knight was at the time he was on the show, like Knight, he benefits from being surrounded by good designers. As the field began to shrink, Edmond's imagination appeared to shrink with it. He's practically by himself now and second guessed everything in this challenge. What would happen when he was completely by himself to produce a runway show? That's where Knight collapsed. 

It would be a shame if he didn't get a chance to try to pull off a win. Of all seasons, this would be the season to do it.  I guess we'll see next week when Tim talks to the finalists and visits them at home to find out what they're doing.

I'll be reviewing all of the decoy designers in the weeks leading up to the Fashion Week runway show. So stay tuned for those posts.

Until next week, join us in the Blogging Project Runway chatroom on Thursday, 9 pm Eastern Time for our weekly group watching party.

Project Runway 14, Episode 11: Cross that Bridge When You Get to it

And every one of us has to face that day
Do you cross the bridge or do you fade away?
And every one of us that ever came to play
Has to cross the bridge or fade away

And the bridge, it shines
Oh, cold, hard iron
Saying, Come and risk it all
Or die trying   - Elton John "The Bridge"

Greetings Project Runway Fans!

This week, our designers faced the AVANT GARDE challenge. You know, the one where no one really knows what it avant garde is? 

In the whole of Project Runway history, the avant garde challenge has been a 180° turn that neither the designers nor the judges have been willing to make. Every season, the judges evaluate most challenges on how well the designers' garment compliments the models and fits the criteria. So while you can take a challenge and tell the designers to throw away the rulebook, to "come and risk it all" like Elton John sings, the designers are afraid to do that. When the judges continue to judge as they always have...Heidi likes sexy, Zac looks to construction, Nina cares about "taste level" and the guest judge is a wild card.... let's just say that a lot of designers do die trying.

In any other season, I'd applaud them for waiting until the final five to unleash this challenge. It always brings better results when the top designers tackle it. But....this season.....as Tim Gunn used to say, "I'm dubious."

Tim took the final five to the East River for this challenge and resisted the urge to push them into it. They were to take their inspiration from the "Three Sisters" of the East River: The Williamsburg, The Manhattan, and the Brooklyn Bridges.

The bridge inspiration brought the oddest reactions in the designers. Merline looks at a bridge and sees architecture, 

Architecture is one of my love languages!

Candice sees her dad, who worked on them, 

"He would climb to the tippy top."

Edmond sees Xs, 

"X...X....X...X"

Ashley sees wires, 

and Kelly sees the Wu-Tang Clan.

How much you wanna bet that Kelly owns this tee shirt?

"But there's a TWIST! In 3-D! HAH!"

"For the first time in Project Runway history, your work will be in 3-D!"

What?  Have they been dressing paper dolls this whole time? It thought every runway was in 3-D.

"Featuring 3-D printing!"

What commences is 10 minutes of the most ridiculous send up to a challenge that I've ever seen. Only a couple of the designers have seen 3-D printing. None of them understand how it's done, yet all of them are super excited about it. Merline starts to dance. Only Kelly has the guts to say what is on everyone's mind.

There are no words for how much I love Kelly right now.

"Let me explain to you what's going to happen..."

It took me a second watching to absorb everything that Annie said. If that's the case for me, with a good night's sleep under my belt, the designers heard "blah, blah, blah, blah, blah...."  And maybe you did too. Let me recap:

The CUBE 3-D printer can print any object up to 5" X 5" X 5". I didn't recall any material limitation, although there may have been a time limitation on how much could be produced overnight.  But let's just say you could cover your outfit with 5" cubes, if you wished. I think you could have asked to make an entire bodice if you had them construct one in pieces. Even at that, I think they would have needed way more time than just a few minutes consulting with technicians immediately after learning about 3D printing and getting the inspiration in order to produce results like this.

So designers tended toward embellishments. The designs were printed on mesh squares so they could easily be sewn onto the garments. Color was no limit, although everyone chose either white or black.

The designers were more excited about having $200 to spend at Mood and two days to sew. Those were concepts they could immediately grasp.

Speaking of grasping concepts, you know how Heidi walks out at the beginning of the runway and explains the challenge to everyone? Mel B., the guest judge apparently slept through that part.

"I had no idea this was avant garde challenge and had to incorporate 3-D printing. Now that I know what this challenge is about, I can go back to saying that I just think this is very pretty and I'd wear it."

More about that later.

So with their plastic gee-gaws and fancy fabrics, our designers were off on their flights of bridge fancy! Let's see how they did.

Kelly Dempsey

According to Wikipedia, the WuTang Clan developed a bunch of "backronyms" for "WuTang." One of them was "Witty Unpredictable Talent And Natural Game." Change "Witty" to "Wicked" and you've got Kelly from the Deli. She knew she had to go big and bold and went there. She may not have the fancy designer vocabulary. She might not know what a pannier is, but she can sure as heck make one.

On the neckline and under the arms, Kelly used cording to reflect the suspension cables on the bridge. The faux croc vinyl reflected the brickwork. Because she let her fabric materials take so much of the image, there was little left for the 3-D printed pieces, except to be on a belt around her waist.

Kelly is very lucky that none of the other designers understood what "avant garde" meant. Hers was the only piece that pushed the design envelope, so she was the obvious choice for a win. Once again. Had anyone else been in the running, she would have been docked for her failure to incorporate her 3-D materials in a MEANINGFUL way.  

Unfortunately, with the little time the designers had to plan out their designs, each had to pick a path they could stick to. It's a shame that Kelly didn't incorporate more of the Brooklyn Bridge's iconic arches into the design. That would have been a more meaningful use of the 3-D elements.

I would have commissioned some large 4X4 or 5X5 keystone and arch bricks to embellish the center of the waist to the hips and down along the legs to make an arch opening that transitioned back to the straight line box. 

Then, it would have been a slam dunk. Brooklyn style.

It's not lost on me (or you, dear fans...) that the woman who didn't know what the heck a 3-D printer was now owns one.

While the Cube people may have been disappointed about that, my disappointment was that no other designer came close to winning.

Edmond Newton

No one is going to ask you why you put your name on something if they can't see that you put your name on something. 

I mean...really? This is all we got? I don't understand. The black flounces off to the side were gorgeous. But from a distance, a bunch of flounces off to the side looks like she's sprouting a tumor. Why not create all sorts of flounces that stick out far and break the plane?

If the X in the bridge was such an inspiration to him, why did he cover up the bottom of the X shape in the front? The back is all covered with plastic gee-gaws, but the shape is not evocative in the least of an X.

Not helping matters, Heidi focused on how sexy the dress was. She spent most of her time admiring the model's cleavage.

THIS IS AN AVANT GARDE CHALLENGE. THE WORD "SEXY" SHOULD BE BANNED FROM THE JUDGING!!! This should be the one challenge when just "making a pretty dress" doesn't earn you any points.

Why did the guy who gave us the Muppet top hold back on this challenge???

Ashley Tipton

"Well, THIS is a different look for you."

Everyone seems to have forgotten the pants Ashley during the Celebrity Cruise challenge. 

Two things vexed Ashley during this challenge: the lack of time for planning the design and integrating the 3-D elements and her taste in fabrics.

Ashley was inspired by the curve of the suspension cables on the Manhattan Bridge. And while a wave pattern in white seemed like a good idea at the time....

Once she put them together, she started to see something that looked more like this...

She never found a way to use the pieces in the top and the bottom. So she decided to create a cape that used them for visual interest.

But the outfit underneath barely featured them.

What the outfit did feature was a sheer, polka dotted fabric.  While the look she put together is provocative, the polka dots were just too cute. Cute + provocative starts to veer into trashy. She was narrowly teetering on that precipice. The polka dots also separated the look from the external cape, which didn't feature that fabric at all.

"It's too different outfits."

Mel B wasn't fooled, but the rest of the judges were caught by surprise by this huge departure in style.

BUT WAS IT AVANT GARDE? AND WHAT DOES IT HAVE TO DO WITH A BRIDGE?

Avant garde doesn't mean "make something you don't usually make." It's more than just that.

Candice Cuoco

And it doesn't mean "using red when you usually use black." 

Candice really had an interesting idea to take the triangle shapes in the bridge and use them in the bottom of a dress. Fashion drawings are usually more exuberant than the garments that are ultimately made, however, in this case, Candice could have benefited from executing something closer to the drawing.

What resulted was a "pretty dress." Still, the seaming was crazy...a center seam down the middle and what looked like a reconstructed peeled orange on the back.

Depending on the angle of the lighting, the seams looked puckered and overwrought.  The train should have been bigger and longer. The triangles needed to be more prominent. 

What was prominent were the 3-D elements...more prominent than the winning look. What to do...what to do?

So seemingly out of the blue....

"It's a pretty dress. I have an event coming up. Can I wear it?"

You know, sometimes I make up quotes to be funny. But I'm not making this one up. Mel really offered. Or...perhaps she was coaxed!

"Annie, we're so pleased to have you as part of this challenge."
"Remember, Tim, the contract says the 3-D element has to be a critical part of the winning design."

Do you have a better theory?

You know who was even more disappointed than Annie?

Kini Zamora

Here's one reason...

Merline Labissiere

Of all of them, Merline had a plan. She wanted to use the 3-D pieces to gradually transition from the two-dimensional plane of the fabric to more sculptural elements of the dress. At least I think that's what she wanted. Let's take a look at what she actually did.

I think that top was off to a good start. Negative space. Positive space. Good use of the 3-D gee gaws. I still didn't get the part where they were going to build up to the bottom. And where have I seen that bottom before?

"Um...hello?"

Oh, yeah...Kini's "rainway" outfit!

Here's the thing. I liked the top more than the bottom. Tim pointed out that her skirt wasn't very even and symmetrical. He also told her that she needed to choose whether she would be symmetrical or uneven--either way--she had to go BIG.

That's not what she did.

The revised top is extremely conventional. The gee gaws sit on the bodice like a broach. There was no evidence of that transition from 2-D to 3-D that she talked about. She used just a fraction of the material that was printed. The skirt is well constructed but really really safe.

And so we bid adieu to Merline.

As I said last week, this was Merline's to win. What happened? Was she so excited about all the elements that she simply didn't take time to process how all of them were supposed to go together? Did she or anyone else even have enough time?

We've been doing some discussing amongst ourselves at Blogging Project Runway and some of the former contestants have weighed in. In the past, there were more 2-day challenges. More importantly, designers used to have more than just a few minutes to plan and draw before going to Mood. Even with that extra time, they struggled with fabric supplies but they managed to conjure up amazing designs and spectacular failures. All memorable moments for us, the viewers.

What will be the wow moments of this season? Kelly brought us one this week, in a season with very little to remember.

Next week, we head west to LA with just two challenges to go.

Come hang out with us in the BPR Chatroom on Thursday at 9 pm, Eastern Time, for our weekly viewing party and group therapy session.

Until next week!